February 2005 - Tribute.ca

Sideways
On the surface, it’s a story about two middle-aged
ne’er-do-wells on a California getaway in search of
wine and women, which sort of sounds like an old
episode of Frasier
. But this Golden Globe winner is
more a painful dramedy of errors than a laughtracked
TV sitcom. The title refers both to the way wine bottles are
stored and the way the two main characters go through life.
Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti is Miles, a failed novelist with
one failed marriage already on the books. Thomas Haden
Church—WingsW
’ dufus Lowell—is Jack, a never-quitemade-it
movie actor intent on sowing some wild oats before
his impending marriage. Enter Oscar nominee
Virginia Madsen as Maya, a waitressing wine expert
with a nose for romance, and the underrated Sandra Oh
as Stephanie, a saucy vino vixen who breaks Jack’s nose,
if not his heart. There’s a reason this is one of the bestreviewed
films of ’04: This vintage is a modern classic.
Million Dollar Baby
Despite appearances, Million Dollar Baby isn’t
really a boxing movie. Under a layer of sweat and
a pair of padded gloves is a story about what goes on
outside the ring when three lost souls are faced with
life’s bigger questions. Sure, it has all the fixtures of
a classic boxing movie—an underdog fighter with heart,
a crusty old trainer ready to throw in the towel on life,
bags being punched and ropes being skipped, pearls
of fight wisdom that apply to real life and boxing bouts
miraculously won. But Million Dollar Baby is about
more than fighting the good fight. Starring Hilary Swank
as a waitress with a mean left cross, director Clint
Eastwood as her trainer, and Morgan Freeman as
a former fighter who provides the film’s moral compass,
the movie tackles the kinds of challenges that can’t be
solved with “never say die” platitudes.
Ray
The life of music legend Ray Charles was ready-made
for the movies. Growing up poor in the south, he
learned to play piano at age 3, went blind at 7 and was an
orphan at 15. He studied classical music in school and years
later he pioneered soul music, a combination of blues and
gospel that forever changed the sound of popular music.
He won 12 Grammy awards and was hailed a “genius”
by none other than Frank Sinatra. He loved heroin almost
as much as he did women, and he did it all, as Sinatra was
fond of saying, his way. Charles was indeed an American
original. And under the steady hand of director Taylor
Hackford and thanks to the studied performance of star
Jamie Foxx, his story at last comes to the big screen,
good, bad and ugly thankfully intact.
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Tribute February 2005